Buttermilk Pancake Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Buttermilk Pancake Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Makes: 8 pancakes
Ingredients Needed
- 1 cup/150g/5ozs plain all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon/15g/0.5oz caster or superfine sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 1/3 teaspoon fine salt
- 200ml/7flozs buttermilk (or 175ml/6.2flozs milk, 25ml/0.9flozs lemon juice)
- 1 egg
- 80g/2.8ozs melted butter plus 80g/2.8ozsozs extra for frying
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 Whisk - In a large bowl whisk the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb and salt) together until well distributed. In a jug whisk the buttermilk, egg, butter and vanilla together until smooth.
Step 2 Add - Add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients in a steady stream. The mixture will be thick and fluffy and look lumpy - this is fine.
Step 3 Fry - Heat a frying pan on low medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons or 10g/0.3oz of butter and let it melt and spread over the pan. Fill a ladle with the batter. Using a soup spoon, scoop the batter out of the ladle and shape into a circle (do this as soon as the batter hits the pan). Wait for 1 minute or until bubbles appear on the surface. Gently flip over the pancake and cook for 30 seconds. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Serve with butter, jam or maple syrup.
Substitution notes and ingredients:
If you don't have lemon juice to make buttermilk, then you can also use vinegar or 1.5 teaspoons cream of tartar per cup of milk.
Baking powder and bicarb are two different but similar ingredients and we need both in this recipe. Bicarb reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce a fluffier texture whereas baking powder gives pancakes a consistent rise. Bicarb is also called baking soda.
Personal Note
We actually came home from our Canberra trip with a whole lot of leftovers. We often order a lot in order to write about it but often can't eat it all and we always pack it up and bring it in a cooler bag home. Laura and I share custody of a big cooler bag that we split the cost of, and it lives in her car as she usually drives.
(I once received a rude email from a woman who scolded me for ordering so much food. I didn't even want to bother with explaining to her that we took food home and that nothing goes to waste. Some people won't even listen to what you say so I figure why bother explaining to her)
Another reason why I like bringing things home is because it's easy to go back and try to analyse what is in the food. So many times I try and remember the little details of what I ate and then head to the fridge to sample it and that helps recall the little details. And it also helps when I am trying to recreate something. Once I made my first batch of buttermilk pancakes using what they told me, I tested it against the leftover pancake. And I think this one might even be better!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you keep buttermilk in your fridge? What is your favourite topping for pancakes? Syrup, jam, butter, cream or fruit?